“Ice Age: Continental Drift” voice cast announced

Twentieth Century Fox Animation and Blue Sky Studios announced Monday the voice cast for Ice Age: Continental Drift, the fourth entry in Blue Sky’s blockbuster franchise, which has grossed over $4 billion in all media.

Fox will release the animated comedy in 3D on July 13, 2012.

Ray Romano is back as Manny, the woolly mammoth and the herd’s “Big Daddy,” Queen Latifah returns as Ellie — Manny’s significant other, Denis Leary rejoins the herd as the saber-toothed tiger Diego, John Leguizamo is at it again as terminally goofy sloth Sid, and Seann William Scott and Josh Peck reprise possums Crash and Eddie.

Joining the ever-growing Ice Age family for Continental Drift is a stellar lineup, including Jeremy Renner, an Academy Award nominee for The Hurt Locker and The Town (and whose upcoming films include Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol and The Bourne Legacy), who portrays Gutt, a self-styled master of the high seas who’s determined to make Manny, Sid and Diego part of his crew; Wanda Sykes as Sid’s stowaway Granny, who causes all sorts of problems for our heroes; Aziz Ansari as Squint, a prehistoric rabbit who fancies himself a tough guy; actress-pop music star Keke Palmer as Peaches, Manny and Ellie’s headstrong teenage daughter; hip hop sensation Drake as Ethan, a handsome young woolly mammoth who has his eye on Peaches; and Jennifer Lopez as Shira, a sabre-toothed tigress who melts Diego’s heart.

Also returning is Scrat (again voiced by Chris Wedge), who in the first Ice Age(2002) emerged as a movie icon. In Ice Age: Continental Drift, Scrat’s nutty pursuit of the cursed acorn, which he’s been after since the dawn of time, has world-changing consequences — a continental cataclysm that triggers the greatest adventure of all for Manny, Diego and Sid. In the wake of these earth-shattering upheavals, Sid reunites with his long-lost family, and the gang encounters a ragtag menagerie of colorful new characters determined to stop them from returning home.

Ice Age: Continental Drift is directed by Steve Martino and Michael Thurmeier, and produced by Lori Forte and John Donkin.